Climate change - consequences?

There's no doubt that the climate is changing. Some are convinced that the human race is responsible and others aren't. This year we've had the warmest January since temperatures were recorded and February looks like being one of the wettest. This thread isn't about which side is right but how it will affect us. It already has.

One interesting consequence that I have read almost nothing about is how it will affect us depending on where we live. The question here is - am I right?

The icecaps melt and the sea level rises. The Earth rotates so I'd think that the circumference at the equator increases and the circumference over the poles decreases. Us living in the north and south won't then be affected as much as those living close to the equator.

If what I think is correct would the Earth's rotational speed (24 hours in 1 day) eventually increase, decrease or remain the same?

around here we had the wettest December in recorded history, and as water level rose back then, it hasn't returned to normal levels since
Temperature wise - December usually would be around freezing, January just slightly below, February is typically coldest month, steadily below freezing with couple weeks of -15C to few days of up to -30C, this year - hadn't have any frost yet, most days +3~+8C, almost weekly high winds (up to 30-35m/s or 70-80mph), we might get 1, maybe 2 of those windy days here during a normal autums, bet I don't recall anything like this during winter
average water level in rivers is 60-70cm above the long term average (more in smaller rivers prone to flooding), which wouldn't be unusual if they had ice formed on them during winter and this would be snow/ice melting time, but we hadn't have any ice on rivers this year at all

the funny thing is, you might think that all those climate change people would be all over the place screaming - SEEITOLDYOU!!, but it's been very quiet, just some "dry" weather reports of yet another warmest day in recorder history type of news

Whatever the cause I've no doubt that the climate has been changing. Anybody following UK news will know that we have been suffering severe flooding in various areas of the country. We are used to rain in the UK but not in these amounts at this time of year.

First Gordon, what happened to your diamond status? The last time I checked, you had 20,000 posts. Second, you are 100% correct. Yes, we are experiencing warming and the human race's attention is on the wrong things. It does not matter why, it just is. We must not create economic suicide, it will only make things worse. Yes, we must reduce our carbon footprint, it makes sense on many fronts, not just climate change. Change is inevitable with everything and everywhere. Nothing ever remains the same. The earth has experienced climate change many times in its past. It will have consequences of course and it will probably happen fast. Our efforts should be centered on managing those consequences and it isn't at the moment.

I'll rephrase the point of my thread by adding a "What if". There were climate changes long before man appeared.

What if the icecaps melt and the sea level rises? The Earth rotates so I'd think that the circumference at the equator increases and the circumference over the poles decreases. Us living in the north and south won't then be affected as much as those living close to the equator.

If what I think is correct would the Earth's rotational speed (24 hours in 1 day) eventually increase, decrease or remain the same?

if you move the mass outwards from the center of rotation, then the rotation will slow down, it is quite basic, and best observed in figure ice skaters when they are doing their spins, move the leg out - slow down, move the leg back in and the rotation speed increases, the amount of energy during this transfer of mass stays the same

and because the rotation will slow down, you will get less of a centrifugal effect, so the rise of the water on the equator will be less than it would be if the speed of the rotation stayed the same, so I'd say the act of the rising water level overall will be somewhat similar, and I think the effect on the weather patters will be a bigger concern than just a steady overall water level increase

The biggest one that I see is that a bunch of fat cat, owners of companies that make all the items that are supposed to prevent or help prevent it are going to get filthy rich from the money that will be taken out of the average Joe's pocket by both taxiation and regulation.

Is climate change real? Of course it is. The climate is always changing. Are humans responsible for it? Less than 0.1%.

Twenty or thirty years ago it was going to be global cooling. The glacers were going to move into Kansas City and Atlanta. Perhaps even New Orleans, Houston, and Miami. They even made movies about it. Now it is global warming, with just as much real science behind it. In case you haven't noticed, the climate "scientists" have ALTERED THE DATA. I hate to even use the word scientists in quotation marks to describe them. They are total frauds.

The real question is just how did this gigantic fraud come about? "Scientists" who depend on government grants. Government agencies who decide on who gets those grants and who's leaders are appointed by politicians. Politicians who get votes by getting on the bandwagon. And who's election campains are financed with money from those companys which stand to profit from the sale of things that would, in an actual analysis of their real cost and value, never sell. Those products waste more resources than they will ever save, but no one ever mentions that.

The whole [email protected]##*d thing is designed to defraud the public, to defraud the tax payer.

CO2 is often blamed as the chief cause of climate change because it is a greenhouse gas. Well, guess what greenhouse gas is over 100 times more present in the athomosphere. Guess, please! Can't name it? Well it's WATER VAPOR. It is over 100 times more responsible for the greenhouse effect than CO2. Now, just how are we going to eliminate that threat? Pump the oceans dry and store it in tanks? Perhaps send it to the moon. By the way, both water and CO2 are necessary for plants to grow. And it is the plants that make the oxygen that you and I are breathing right now. Oh, and they produce the food that we eat. I kind of like keeping those plants going, don't you. When the CO2 level in the athomosphere increases, so does the amount of plant life. Corn and wheat grow faster and taller. And more oxygen is produced. Also changes in the sun have a far greater effect on our climate than the amount of CO2. How are they going to control that?

They say the polar ice is melting. Well, my present house is sitting on land that is just a few feet above sea level. If the polar ice were really melting, my feet should be in salt water by now. I just looked and they are dry. The river that runs through my city and down to the Gulf of Mexico in about 30 to 40 miles is at much the same level it was at over 25 years ago when I first moved here. It hasn't flooded anything except durring hurricanes and that has gone on for hundreds of centuries when those storms rolled in. Nothing new there. Every time I hear that prediction it is moved further into the future so it is always 10 to 20 years off. And it will stay that way; predicted for 10 to 20 years from 'now" whenever "now" is. None of us, nor our children, nor our grandchildren, nor their grand children will ever see it.

The whole thing is a CROCK. The enviornment has been taking good care of itself for millions, well no, that should be BILLIONS of years without our help. I think it can continue to do so quite well.

I am not saying we should not watch what we do. I don't like the idea of trash in the oceans or man made smog in our cities or toxic waste in our waterways. We certainly should clean things like that up. And we have been and I am sure we will continue to do so. But spending untold trillions of dollars to stop CO2 emissions? WHY? The only reason is to take poor people's money to make rich people richer. I need what little money that I have and I suspect that most of you also do.

Maybe a scientist will chime in how the earth keeps spinning at a set speed.

sure we could reduce the emissions by using solar and wind power, stop putting heat in the atmosphere as well, think of all the processes we use air for cooling.
No heaters in the house, no air-conditioning.
But there are some you cannot avoid like how to make steel without emissions? making it in one country other than yourself just palms the problem to someone else who doesn't care as much.
when you do a list it will be long...how do we keep those processes for things we need to keep the current standard of living?

Having a protest march in the city when you arrived there in a bus or train made from steel or heaven forbid a car is plain silly.
phone a friend to come along- phone being mined materials and processed into a phone, transported to your shop etc

finite resources such as coal should be replaced that's a given and processes done with it should be done in the country of origin, we ship lots of iron ore, coal, trace elements across the world to get processed elsewhere then ship the stuff back.

Why not reduce shipping emissions?

Anyhow anyone planning on getting solar power for the home ? if you get reasonable sunlight with the costs coming down maybe that's a small start. As long as the input cost emissions to make solar power parts is not fudged away and is accounted for. able to be recycled as well.
Emissions to make, transport, install, maintenance and emissions saved over the lifetime of the product need to be considered.

OK, I have a degree in physics. The earth's rotation is slowing down at a very small rate. This is due to the friction of tidal forces due to the moon and to a lesser extent the sun. I forget the amount of time it will take to stop the rotation completely, but it is a long, long time. You will not need to adjust any clocks or watches in your lifetime and those same clocks and watches will be just as accurate if your grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren's, grandchildren use them. It is just that little. You can stop worrying about it.

Yes there are better ways to heat and cool our houses, to transport us, to power our factories, etc. And they will come along in their own time. The automobile did not come about from massive government regulations or subsidies. New things need to come about when they are truly economic, not when they need regulations to force us to buy them or subsidies to make them affordable. Any extra money spent on forcing them on the public IS A TOTAL WASTE OF RESOURCES. Money is exactly equal to resources. And we should not be wasting our money/resources trying to force new technologies on the public before they are truly economic. Before they really COST LESS when everything is taken into account. Anything else is a waste and just slows the process down.

Let it happen on it's own. Let market forces govern it, not bureaucrats. Not protesters who don't know squat about it. Things get better, get more efficient, if they are just left on their own.

You want solar power for your house? Check out it's total cost against the total cost of conventional power in your region. If it will cost more then it IS LESS EFFICIENT. Dollars tell the whole story.

Money = resources. That is an exact equation. If you don't believe that, just examine where every penny that you ever had came from. You were probably paid for doing a job. The company used natural resources, perhaps already altered by others, to make a product that was made with the labor of yourself and others. That labor also represents resources that were expended: food, clothing, the services of others like teachers, etc., things like the car you take to work, or the tools that you use. All of these things come from natural resources ever since the first cave man made the first knife and traded with his neighbor. Money = resources. That is as mathematically and scientifically true as the laws of physics, and the basic theorems of math.

Originally Posted by Street

Maybe a scientist will chime in how the earth keeps spinning at a set speed.

sure we could reduce the emissions by using solar and wind power, stop putting heat in the atmosphere as well, think of all the processes we use air for cooling.
No heaters in the house, no air-conditioning.
But there are some you cannot avoid like how to make steel without emissions? making it in one country other than yourself just palms the problem to someone else who doesn't care as much.
when you do a list it will be long...how do we keep those processes for things we need to keep the current standard of living?

Having a protest march in the city when you arrived there in a bus or train made from steel or heaven forbid a car is plain silly.
phone a friend to come along- phone being mined materials and processed into a phone, transported to your shop etc

finite resources such as coal should be replaced that's a given and processes done with it should be done in the country of origin, we ship lots of iron ore, coal, trace elements across the world to get processed elsewhere then ship the stuff back.

Why not reduce shipping emissions?

Anyhow anyone planning on getting solar power for the home ? if you get reasonable sunlight with the costs coming down maybe that's a small start. As long as the input cost emissions to make solar power parts is not fudged away and is accounted for. able to be recycled as well.
Emissions to make, transport, install, maintenance and emissions saved over the lifetime of the product need to be considered.

The real question is just how did this gigantic fraud come about? "Scientists" who depend on government grants. Government agencies who decide on who gets those grants who's leaders are appointed by politicians. Politicians who get votes by getting on the bandwagon. And who's election campains are financed by money from those companys who stand to profit from the sale of things that would, in an actual analysis of their real cost, never sell. Those products waste more resources than they will ever save, but no one ever mentions

does the weatherman get payed more when he predicts sunny weather or rain?
he will certainly be in trouble if he persistently predicts it wrong.
there are countries where the weather service gets payed as long as it predicts to the best of the abilities.
because the weather is important to the country.
and as it happens the weather service has a rather clear insight in the bigger picture (climate), as there are quite a few scientists working at the weather service.
no grants, no election campaigns, just a scientific institution predicting the weather since 1854.
in a country where more then half the people live under the sea and where two major rainwater fed rivers end.
and that country is planning to spend a lot of money and effort to keep the rising waters out.
and were none of the politicians that will decide how to do it, will even still be alive once the project is finished.
as was the case the last time there were major works done to keep the sea at bay.

Must be possible,as the Labor leader here (think Oz s answer to Jeremy Corbin) says he can make the place carbon neutral (green vote),while still mining and exporting all the coal(powerful unions)....so looks like leafy Norfolk isnt going to be a tropical island off the coast east of Birmingham anytime soon.

The real question is just how did this gigantic fraud come about? "Scientists" who depend on government grants. Government agencies who decide on who gets those grants and who's leaders are appointed by politicians. Politicians who get votes by getting on the bandwagon. And who's election campains are financed with money from those companys which stand to profit from the sale of things that would, in an actual analysis of their real cost and value, never sell. Those products waste more resources than they will ever save, but no one ever mentions that.

The whole [email protected]##*d thing is designed to defraud the public, to defraud the tax payer.

The whole thing is a CROCK.

Yup.
If you follow it all back, it goes right back to the United Nations.
"The earth has cancer, and cancer is man."
Nice!

What if[/B] the icecaps melt and the sea level rises? The Earth rotates so I'd think that the circumference at the equator increases and the circumference over the poles decreases.
If what I think is correct would the Earth's rotational speed (24 hours in 1 day) eventually increase, decrease or remain the same?

Pretty basic physics, any figure skater can tell you the answer. I suspect and would hope you already know the answer. The earths rotational speed would decrease.

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